Month: November 2016

This Megachurch Is Offering To Pay Your Rent If You Turn Up On New Year’s Day

A megachurch in Texas is offering mortgage or rent payments to members who turn up to church on New Year’s Day.

January 1, 2017 will fall on a Sunday and New Light Christian Center in Houston is offering incentives for those who shake off the New Year hangover to make it. The 20,000-strong church spread across six sites advertised the offer on its Facebook page on Saturday.

But one church official said the giveaway is part of an annual raffle started by pastor Bishop I V Hilliard.

“It’s just a way to encourage members to come on out to service even though it’s New Year’s Day,” the unnamed church official told The Christian Post.

The sum on offer is not known but churchgoers will found out on the day.

“They are not discussing that information at this time. There is a budget but only the pastors have that. I don’t think they will be willing to give that information out,” the official said.

A court in Lahore has handed the death sentence to five Muslims for torturing and killing an impoverished Christian couple over allegations of burning the Koran, sources said.

Eight others charged in the attack were sentenced to two years in prison, sources said. Hundreds of villagers in Kot Radha Kishan, incited by Muslim leaders calling for violence via mosque loudspeakers, were involved in the Nov. 4, 2014 assault in which 26-year-old Shahzad Masih and his five-months pregnant wife, Shama, 24, were thrown into a burning brick kiln.

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
â€”Luke 11:28

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
God gave us his word to bless us. When we obey what he asks of us, we get to walk in that blessing. On the other hand, as Jesus reminded us at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, when we know the will of God and don’t obey it, we are foolish. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to receive a blessing! Thank God for speaking to us through his word â€” the Scriptures â€” so we can know his will and walk in his blessing and for speaking to us through his living Word â€” his Son â€” so we can know his heart as we apply it to our lives.

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Christians and other religious minority groups in Bangladesh have been experiencing persecution “almost daily” from different frontsâ€”from terrorists to their own Muslim neighbours â€” for the past three years, a new report revealed.

The non-governmental organisation Minority Rights Group International based in the United Kingdom released a report this week entitled “Under Threat: The challenges facing religious minorities in Bangladesh.”

The document collated daily attacks suffered by Christians and other minority groupsâ€”including Buddhists, Hindus and Shi’a Muslimsâ€”from January to September this year, and noted a rising trend, Sight Magazine reported.

“Violence against Christians has continued, enabled in part by their marginalised position within Bangladeshi society,” the report stated.

Source : ChristianToday

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Under the Shadow of IS: Iraqi Christians Tell of Crucifixions, Torture, Sex Slavery

Islamic State (IS) jihadists hung Karlus, a 29-year-old cook, from the ceiling of the jail he was held in, by a rope attached to his left foot. As blood poured from his foot, they beat and kicked him, rubbing salt into his wounds. He was sexually abused in prison by three women wearing niqabs. He was told he would be shot dead; but for reasons he still does not understand, on the day his execution was due to take place, 26 September 2014, he was released.

When IS seized control of Iraqi territory in the summer of 2014, they gave Christians, as â€œPeople of the Bookâ€�, four options: leave, convert to Islam, pay a protection tax (jiyza) or be killed. The vast majority fled â€“ an estimated 120,000 in a few short weeks that summer. But those left behind were subjected to torture, forced conversion, sexual slavery and even crucifixion, according to testimonies collected from Iraqi refugees in Jordan by the religious freedom charity ADF International.

Karlus told its researchers he had been unable to flee his home in Batnaya, a village outside Mosul, because he was looking after his disabled father. When the terrorists came to his house, they destroyed a cross and a picture of Jesus.

â€œThey even destroyed a piece from the Quran that was given to me by a friend,â€� he said.

Source : ChristianToday

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How much do church staff really earn? This is a question Christians have wondered at one point or another but have been too shy to ask.

A recent study released by Leadership Network and Vanderbloemen Search Group showed surprising results about church staff salaries and budgets, according to Dr. Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, in an article he wrote on his website.

“As I read the study, I looked for surprises or changes in patterns from what I have been seeing in recent years. And though the data I’ve collected in the past may not compare perfectly with the research of this latest study, the contrasts are, at the very least, instructional and interesting,” he said.

First, growing churches pay their pastors and staff slightly less than declining churches. “At first glance, this information seems surprising. But growing churches often reach new Christians who have not established healthy giving patterns. Other growing churches may be more likely to reach younger families with lower incomes,” he said.

Another surprising fact is that only 2 percent of the churches’ budgets are funded outside congregational giving. These funds come from schools that are in the church’s building or from investments and endowments. Rainer said these sources of income are very small compared to congregational giving.

Source : ChristianToday

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